snow-flow

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Quick Start

# Install
npm install -g snow-flow

# Start the TUI
snow-flow

# Authenticate (in the TUI)
/auth

That's it. Snow-Flow auto-initializes on first run and guides you through authentication with ServiceNow and your preferred LLM provider.

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What is Snow-Flow?

Snow-Flow is an open-source AI development platform for ServiceNow. It uses the Model Context Protocol (MCP) to give AI assistants direct access to your ServiceNow instance through 400+ specialized tools.

Talk to your ServiceNow instance in plain English:

> Create a dashboard widget showing P1 incidents with SLA countdown timers

> Build a business rule to auto-assign incidents based on category

> Show me all incidents assigned to my team from the last week

> Create a knowledge article explaining the password reset process

Snow-Flow handles everything: Update Set creation, ES5 validation, widget coherence checks, and deployment.

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Why Snow-Flow?

vs ServiceNow Build Agent

| Feature | Snow-Flow | ServiceNow Build Agent | |---------|-----------|------------------------| | Cost | Free (open source) | $150K-$4.5M implementation | | AI Model | 75+ providers - Claude, GPT, Gemini, DeepSeek, Ollama | NowLLM only | | Development | Any IDE - VS Code, Cursor, terminal, JetBrains | Browser-based Studio | | Integrations | Jira, Azure DevOps, Confluence, GitHub | ServiceNow only | | Source Code | 100% open source | Proprietary | | Self-hosted | Yes | No | | Architecture | Multi-agent orchestration | Single agent |

Key Features

• 379+ MCP Tools - Complete ServiceNow coverage across 15 categories
• Any LLM Provider - Claude, GPT, Gemini, DeepSeek, Llama, or free with Ollama
• Built-in TUI - Interactive terminal interface with keyboard shortcuts
• ES5 Validation - Catches Rhino engine errors before deployment
• Update Set Management - Automatic change tracking
• Widget Coherence - Validates HTML/Client/Server communication
• Local Development - Pull artifacts to local files, edit with your IDE, push back
• Multi-IDE Support - Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, Continue.dev

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How It Works

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Snow-Flow TUI                                                  │
│  ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────  │
│                                                                 │
│  You: Create an incident dashboard widget with priority charts  │
│                                                                 │
│  ┌─ Snow-Flow ─────────────────────────────────────────────┐    │
│  │ 1. Creating Update Set: "Feature: Incident Dashboard"   │    │
│  │ 2. Building widget template (HTML)...                   │    │
│  │ 3. Writing server script (ES5 validated)...             │    │
│  │ 4. Writing client controller...                         │    │
│  │ 5. Validating widget coherence...                       │    │
│  │ 6. Deploying to dev12345.service-now.com...             │    │
│  │ ✓ Widget deployed: incident_dashboard                   │    │
│  │                                                         │    │
│  │ Preview: https://dev12345.service-now.com/sp?id=...     │    │
│  └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘    │
│                                                                 │
│  You: _                                                         │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

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MCP Tools Overview

Snow-Flow provides 379 tools across 15 categories:

| Category | Tools | Read | Write | Description | |----------|-------|------|-------|-------------| | Platform Development | 78 | 25 | 53 | Script includes, client scripts, UI development | | Automation | 57 | 24 | 33 | Script execution, scheduled jobs, events | | Advanced AI/ML | 52 | 44 | 8 | Classification, anomaly detection, predictions | | ITSM | 45 | 17 | 28 | Incident, change, problem management | | Integration | 33 | 13 | 20 | REST messages, transform maps, import sets | | Core Operations | 30 | 14 | 16 | CRUD operations, queries, bulk operations | | UI Frameworks | 19 | 4 | 15 | Portal widgets, UI pages, forms | | Security | 18 | 9 | 9 | ACLs, policies, compliance | | CMDB | 14 | 10 | 4 | CI management, relationships, discovery | | Reporting | 10 | 3 | 7 | Reports, dashboards, KPIs | | UI Builder | 9 | 2 | 7 | Now Experience components | | Asset Management | 8 | 1 | 7 | Asset lifecycle, contracts | | Performance Analytics | 3 | 2 | 1 | PA indicators, breakdowns | | ML Analytics | 2 | 2 | 0 | Native ML features | | Workspace | 1 | 0 | 1 | Agent Workspace config |

Browse all tools: snow-flow.dev/en/mcp-reference

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Setup Guide

1. Install Snow-Flow

npm install -g snow-flow

2. Start the TUI

snow-flow

On first run, Snow-Flow automatically creates:

• .mcp.json - MCP server configuration
• CLAUDE.md / AGENTS.md - AI instructions

3. Authenticate

In the TUI, type /auth to authenticate:

1. LLM Provider - Claude, GPT, Gemini, Ollama, etc.
2. ServiceNow - OAuth 2.0 (requires OAuth app in ServiceNow)

Detailed OAuth setup: snow-flow.dev/en/oauth-setup

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ServiceNow OAuth Setup

Create an OAuth application in your ServiceNow instance:

1. Navigate to System OAuth → Application Registry
2. Click New → Create an OAuth API endpoint for external clients
3. Configure:
   • Name: Snow-Flow
   • Redirect URL: http://localhost:3005/callback
4. Copy Client ID and Client Secret

In Snow-Flow TUI:

/auth

Follow the prompts to enter your instance URL and OAuth credentials.

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LLM Provider Configuration

Snow-Flow supports 75+ AI providers. Configure via environment variables or /auth:

Claude (Recommended)

export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-api03-...

Or use Claude Pro/Max subscription via browser auth.

OpenAI

export OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...

Google Gemini

export GOOGLE_API_KEY=AIza...

100% Free - Local Ollama

# Install: https://ollama.com
ollama pull llama3.3

export OLLAMA_BASE_URL=http://localhost:11434

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TUI Keyboard Shortcuts

| Shortcut | Action | |----------|--------| | Ctrl+X | Leader key (prefix for commands) | | Tab | Switch to next agent | | F2 | Cycle through recent models | | Enter | Submit message | | Shift+Enter | Insert newline | | Esc | Interrupt operation | | Ctrl+X H | Show help | | Ctrl+X N | New session | | Ctrl+X M | List models |

Full keyboard reference: snow-flow.dev/en/tui-guide

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CLI Commands

snow-flow                    # Start TUI
snow-flow auth login         # Authenticate
snow-flow auth list          # Show auth status
snow-flow sessions list      # List sessions
snow-flow config show        # Show configuration
snow-flow models             # List available models
snow-flow run "prompt"       # Run single prompt
snow-flow stats              # Show usage stats

Full CLI reference: snow-flow.dev/en/cli-reference

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Use With Any AI IDE

Snow-Flow works with any MCP-compatible tool:

| Tool | Setup | |------|-------| | Snow-Flow TUI | Built-in, just run snow-flow | | Claude Desktop | Copy .mcp.json to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/ | | Cursor | Copy to .cursor/mcp.json | | Windsurf | Copy to mcp_config.json | | Continue.dev | Add to ~/.continue/config.json |

Reducing Token Usage with External Clients

When using Snow-Flow MCP with external clients like Claude Code, all 235+ tools are loaded at once (~71k tokens). Use lazy loading to reduce this dramatically:

Option 1: Lazy Tools (Recommended) - ~2k tokens

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "snow-flow": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["snow-flow", "mcp"],
      "env": {
        "SNOW_LAZY_TOOLS": "true"
      }
    }
  }
}

With lazy tools, only 2 meta-tools are exposed: